Tine for use in soil sterilizing apparatus



Jan. 24, '1933.

F. MAxEN TINE FOR USE IN SOIL STERILIZING APPARATUS Filed April 25, 1929 Patented Jan. 24, 1933 UNITE-STATES FRANK MAXEN, oF BmMsnowN, ENGLAND l ljrrNii ronUsE 1NA son.r sjTEBILIzING ArrARATnsj i 'Application aledj'april 25, 1929, serial No. l358,144fam1ii1 Great Britain April as, 19,213.l

Fronr practical experiments it Y has ap-v,Y peared that the growth of plants, particu?- larlyin glass houses, is greatly promoted by` sterilizing the soil periodicallyby impreg-;k

nating it with a sterilizing agent, such'- as e. g. steam.

It has been proposed already topenetrate the' ground for this purposewith i'hollow tines, point-ed yat theirlower ends so as vto penetrate the soil easily, and provided with one or more orifices in the wall of 'thetine,'

near itspointed end, so as to allowjsteamv or anyother sterilizing agent to pass through the tine and impregnate the soil. v

Such tines are used in conjunction with a grid, composed of a plurality of short lengths of metal tubing, a number thereof having been arranged end-to-end and connected by screwed jointing devices to form composite tubes, somel of said composite tubes having been longitudinally arrangedv andv others transversely arranged to intersectV "ground the orices in the tine are filled from the outside with soil, and, in the second place,

particles of packing material or cement, used for obtaining a steam-tight connection between the separate lengths of tubes of which the grid is composed, are blown by the steam in the tines and choke the orifices therein from the inside.

By these reasons the eiiiciency of the apparatus is considerably decreased, and, in some cases, they are causing a complete stoppage of the flow of steam or other sterilizing agent.

The present invention has for its object to .remove these objections completely, thus saving much time and trouble inthe application of the apparatus and greatly increasingits eiiiciency. if l The ,invention consists in that the hollow tine, having an inlet' openingat ,the top and r, being .pointed Zand closed at its lower` end, 59" behind its pointedhead, is provided with a oonstricted or narrow apertured neck, in which orifices are arranged, for the 4outlet of steamer any other sterilizing agent.

This construction may be'VN formed by in-` 60 wa'rdlypressingV orfcontractin'g the wall of the tine behind its pointed headfwhich is of greater .y width .orf diameter than the c011- stricted neck-' or in"` any vother suitable Inan- 6 ner. i

vThe yinvention further consists in that, at

ythe inlet or supply connection of the tine, a

sieve or thelike is provided, for preventing any foreignmatter., which is carriedj along by thesteain or other sterilizing agent,'from ,70 entering the tine. 1 l

furtherv featurer of the invention is, that theapparatus, provided withtines as :described above consists off-.a grid, composed l of tubular elements, whichat their ointsare welded together to one entirety, thus doing away with 4packing ,material for obtaining steam-tightgjoints and preventing the possibilityof'the orifices inthe tine beingchoked by particles thereof.. 80 Finally` the.` invention lconsists in that the4 grid is` p'rovidevdww'ith connections welded thereto, inlwhich connections the tines'are.`

interchangeably arranged. j t

n or a better understanding of the present invention, reference isdirected to the accom-j' panyingv drawing, which illustrates, by way of example, an embodiment of tines and off an apparatus according to the invention. Y `In the drawing Fig. l is a 'perspectiveV view `of Aa portion of the sterilizing `appara-` tus in which one of the tines is shown inaVV longitudinalV section, whereas other tines are illustrated partly embedded -in the soil. i

Fig. V2 is a section, substantially on lines i II-II inl1`ig41.` j`.

liig.A 3 shows in section,`the 'connectionbe-Q other` sterilizingr agent, l(to the "grid,

Referring to the drawing, the grid l is composed of tubular elements.

Each of the outer longitudinal and transversetubular frame elements of the grid, con- 5 sists of a one-piece tubeeiitending the complete length or width of the grid, as the case may be,y said tubes being cut olf obliquely at their `junction'and V.welded together. "The inner set of tubes, that is toV say those within the area enclosed by the said outer tubes also are welded to said outer tubes at their'. junction therewith and are welded together at their points of intersection, so that every oint ofthe tubes is awelded joint, thus forming'one entirety. v v l vvTo the so constructed grid. is provided a steam inlet or supply connection. @As appears from Fig. 3 this connection which'is welded to the grid, consists ofwa socket 3 `20with apcomp'artment in whichl a compression spring l2 Yis placed, .resting with its lower. part on the bottom ring of this compartment.

The "upper end of this-spring ibears uponv the underside cfa-perforated gauze or equiv-1; a'lentlilterl disc-V11. `A swivel is brought over the said socket, which latter is "externally screw-threaded and presses the .conical'end' of the steam supply-pipe on to the socket 3,. so, that the filter disc is heldin place under soft-he compression of the spring; the conical part ofthe supply-pipe at the same time formswitb the conical topv part of the compartment of the socket a steam-tight-joint.' 1 `When the said swivel is removed and the jjsup'ply-pipe` with the conical part lifted up,

nippleslO, provided with inner screwthread for'the tines 5, ,may be welded to the grid. By these constructions an interchangeable connection is obtained between the grid and the tines,so that the latter mayb-e easily and quickly interchanged, if required.

. In places, which are dilficultly accessible, e. g. in corners, near supporting columns, etc.,

in glass houses, where there is not suflicient room for applying the grid, thetinescan be .separately con'nected to a yflexible steam supply pipe and then be'embedded in the .soil to be sterilized, so that no place of the soil 1n glass houses .or the like needbelleft untreated.

f I claim s- Y A one'piece tineforfuse 1n rsterilizing soil byimpregnatlon with a sterilizingmedium,

com risi'n 4a oneiece tube of uniform cross P. g P Y section throughout the greater part of its length, said tubebeing open at its upper end and provided with means to connectlit to a gas supply yand closedand pointed v at its.

lower end,a constricted neck portionbeing l formed adjacent and behind said pointed end and constantly pen outlet vorifices in said constricted portion.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature.k

., FRANK MAKEN. g

Y abovethe pointed end 6, the wallof the tine is' inwardly pressed or contracted, so that a constricted or narrow apertured neckl?y is 50=formed, in which the orifices V8 are bored. l

By placing the grid on the soil `to be sterilized and pressing it downwardly, the'tines are embedded into the ground.; the inlet valve for the steam or other sterilizing agent 55Loan^now be opened.v After the soil is iml pregnated' s/uiicientlyftoi attain the desired sterilizing effect, the grid is lifted 'and ire# moved to the next place to be treated. As appears from Fig. 1,.th`e outlet orifices 60f8 are always lseparated by a clearance 9 from thewalls of! the hole, formed by the pointed head 6 of the-tine, sothat thelpossibilityy of thef-orifices 8v becoming' choked bythe soil is excluded. ,y 1. v l j v. 65 Fig. 2 shows that instead of connections 4,

Y rv 

